Look at any and every automobile manufacturer’s wares from the first day of production to the present (or death, in certain cases) and you can pick out one model that stands head and shoulders above the rest for importance. Ford, Model T. Chrysler, New Yorker. You get the point…while there may be several highly successful cars that contributed to the success that the company achieved, there’s only one that can be pinpointed as the best. Without question, when it comes to AMC, the Hornet is that model. The platform the Hornet brought to the table carried AMC to the end, before Chrysler swallowed it up whole. It was right sized, it had smart styling, and it was priced to move. For AMC, that was a win.
You may have seen this particular 1972 Hornet Sportabout before. It belongs to Jacob Davis, who is better known as Mike Finnegan’s stunt double, and has been a work in progress for years now. He bought the car in California on a whim, and drove the 258-powered wagon back home to Georgia without an issue. Originally, the plan was to nuke the straight-six with enough laughing gas to supply the dentists of the East Coast, but amazingly, that plan hasn’t come to fruition yet. So now the car lives as a funky rod of sorts, proof that working with what you got can be just fine compared to going straight to the engine swap route. Just picture this thing with both tires spinning, and how cool that would be. You need to find a Twin-Grip, man!
